Tag: health

Dona, a housewife in Bacolod, became worried for her young son when he didn’t seem to be gaining the proper weight for his age. “When he was around 7-months-old, we noticed that he was really thin. His weight was really light, so light. We went for a check-up but felt like the doctor was in...

Last year, the O family had the opportunity to visit Dumaguete. While on their ICM trip, the O family – 12-year-old Brandon, six-year-old Sydney and parents Andy and Christina witnessed the positive changes ICM’s Transform program brings to entire communities.  While the family was in the slum, working with participants of a Transform community, they were requested...

For over 20 years, Conchita lived with a cyst on her neck that distrupted her sleep and caused discomfort. The local midwife in Conchita’s village warned her against overworking, which meant Conchita needed to pare back the hours she spent washing clothes to earn money. Forced to rely on her husband’s unstable fishing income to...

Meriam, 23, is married to Volter, a passenger motorbike driver. Meriam stays at home and looks after the couple’s two young daughters, Angel and Stephany, while Volter works hard to provide for his family. However the irregular income of a driver is barely enough for them to survive. They live in a coastal village with...

Written by Dr. Mindy Gill, ICM Director of Health Services Most of us take for granted being able to access health care in the time of need.  However, for those living in poverty, there are often insurmountable financial barriers which lead to a lifetime of unnecessary suffering.  This is true even for relatively minor surgical...

Story by Helen Turner, ICM Co-CEO & COO At the recent Doctors fellowship dinner in Dumaguete I was able to catch up with Joanne Dayapdapan who was one of the first special medical case patients I met when I first started working with ICM. In 2009 Joanne was just 16 years old and had been...

The Hualde family lives in a squatter area in San Isidro Lagao, General Santos City. Their house is made of scrap materials and is built on lowland, prone to flooding. In early January 2013, heavy rain had caused floodwater to reach knee level inside their home. Arlene Hualde, a housewife and an ICM Transform Program...

At the age of three, little Shaimie weighed just 5.2 kg (11.4 lbs).  Barely more than skin and bones, she couldn’t sit up or stand, let alone walk.  Her mother Marlita longed to hear Shaimie call her “mama” but her severely malnourished condition had impaired her cognitive development and she hadn’t yet begun to talk....

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacteria that can infect any organ of the body and is highly contagious; and when left untreated, can cause death.  It is curable with a regime of antibiotics over the period of at least 6 months, however stigma and access to the tests and medications are common barriers to the successful...

by Helen Turner, ICM COO After successful trials during 2011/12 ICM has been able to develop a training model to incorporate the values, health and livelihood training for the parents of the Malnourished Children Outreach (MCO) participants.  It is an exciting model involving local community members represented by the local Church Pastor and three Church...